Email Newsletters

Heart-to-heart with Cornerstone Pastor Bundy

By Matthew Shepard Daily News Staff Writer

Feb. 20, 2013

Submitted photo

Caption

Cornerstone Bible Fellowship Senior Pastor Steve Bundy enjoys small community life, and is happy to be a part of Newton.

Moving to a new community can be a difficult for anyone, but what if his or her job involved public speaking? Last year, Cornerstone Bible Fellowship Senior Pastor Steve Bundy moved to Newton and had to get over his first time jitters quick.

Unlike other congregations, this one would be different. This time, the congregation would be his, and his former church even helped him move.

“We had a very smooth transition,” Bundy said. “We had 26 people from the church unload a 26 foot U-Haul (truck) in about an hour.”

He was very gracious for the help, because he did not just move to Newton by himself, he brought his whole family with him. His family consists of his wife Kristina; sons Micah, Ronan, Kegan, Elam; and daughter Emma.

He also has a 3-year-old basset hound named Lulu, which was a Valentine’s Day gift for his wife but it was not purchased by him.

“All I do is feed it and clean up after it,” Bundy jokingly said. “My wife bought the dog for herself.”

He did not have much choice in the decision, but he admitted that he loves the dog.

His family had somewhat of a difficult adjustment at first, but the community opened up their hearts and helped the transition go smoother.

He had members who just stopped by to say “hello” to him, which he likes. Bundy did not experience as much friendliness in to his old community.

When his family first moved in, neighbors came over and introduced themselves to him. Some of them even brought a food dish. You do not get that too often in Kansas City, Bundy said.

“My older son (Micah) liked the fact that Newton had a football team,” Bundy said.

In Kansas City, he joined city teams to play the sport that he loves – football – because his school did not have an official team.

Bundy’s love of God is well known, but his favorite part of the job is the getting to know the people.

“My favorite part of the job is getting to know the community — getting to interact with people,” Bundy said. “My wife and I were looking to move to a smaller community. Kansas City was too big.”

Although he lived in Kansas City for a while, he grew up in Bonner Springs, Kan., which is a small city like Newton. According to the 2010 census, the city’s population was a little more than 7,000.

He is no stranger to kindnesss, either. Bundy recently received a phone call from a member who was at Skiff Medical Center, and he stayed with him until about 1 a.m.

Bundy is happy to be in Newton but still gets a little homesick when it comes professional sports. Being from Kansas City, he is often asked about barbecue, which he is fine with.

Cornerstone Bible Fellowship is located at 1000 E. 12th St. S. Worship Service is at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday with Sunday School at 9 a.m., Youth Group meets at 6:30 p.m. There is also a 7 p.m. Wednesday evening Bible study.

Staff writer Matthew Shepard may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 425, or at mshepard@newtondailynews.com.

Afternoon Update Newsletter

Have our latest news, sports and obituaries emailed directly to you Monday through Friday.